The Big Five
by FanofTrueLove
Summary: This is my first story with the crossover series of Rise of the Tangled Brave Frozen Dragons. I will be adding chapters to this so please read this and let me know what you guys think by leaving a review, PM, etc.
1. Chapter 1

Pitch stood at the altar and began the experiment. He raised his hands and closed his eyes and focused on the fear. Slowly black sand seeped from all around and began to swirl around him and the ceremony circle. With each grain that joined in the miniature storm, a fear that a person held joined in as well and Pitch could hear them all. He heard what the men, women, and children of the world feared but he blocked out the sounds of their voices to focus on the task at hand. As he increased his focus on the goal he placed before him the sand responded to his wishes and it began to twirl faster and faster creating a hurricane in his dark and twisted dungeon home. The sand spun faster and spread to all the corners of the room but as the speed picked up each grain of sand released the fear it held inside in the sound of a scream. Slowly there were more voices joining in and it became a maddening symphony of fear and agony.

Pitch lowered his arms and opened his eyes to view his handiwork and was smiled a crooked smile. "Beautiful," he said.

Getting back to the task at hand, Pitch walked to the center of the ceremony circle and placed a small vial, filled with dust, in the center of the circle on the floor. Before leaving the circle to return to the altar he took out another small vile filled with crimson blood. Opening the two vials he poured the blood of his old acquaintance into her ashes and returned to the altar to wait for the ceremony to be completed. Suddenly a brilliant flash of light consumed the entire room and the symphony of sorrows was silenced, when the light faded away and the dungeon returned to its dark and frightening appearance the sand cleared away leaving a body covered by a cloak laying in the circle. Pitch looked down at the body and let out a sigh and said, "Are you just going to lay there?"

"Humph, you never let me relax Pitchy. Weren't you ever told that women need their beauty sleep," the figure asked as she slowly rose from the ground.

"If that were true then you wouldn't have needed that flower I provided for you all those years ago." Pitch commented as he went down the steps to help his guest, "But then again, even with all those years I gave you it doesn't look like you did much sleeping. Actually…I think I see some crow's feet."

Gothel immediately spun around and slapped Pitch across the face and he simply turned back to look at her face. It was true that without the flower she had begun to age and wither due to so many years of using the flower's power but due to Pitch's timely rescue he managed to preserve her by making it appear as though she turned to dust. "Oh Gothy, is that anyway to repay the person who saved your life?"

Gothel simply turned her back to him and began to make her way towards the chambers she always used when visiting Pitch in his "secure" home. "What if I told you that you didn't need the flower and that girl any longer," Pitch asked.

"It doesn't matter anymore. The power has been cut away and that girl is back with her family in the palace, rejoicing my absence," Gothel called back as she started to leave the room not looking back to answer.

"Let me rephrase the question," Pitch said. "What if you could just simply be immortal and not have to scour the world looking for yet another item or substance that will sustain your life?"

This caught Gothel's attention and she turned back to look at Pitch to see if he was simply playing her again. But his eyes were cold and hollow…but they were also serious in his question. "I'm listening," Gothel said.

Pitch gave another crooked smile and motioned for her to follow him the doors behind him. Silently she followed wondering what game he was trying to play with her. After knowing each other for so many centuries she knew that Pitch always loved to have fun toying with people's weaknesses and fears, and he had done so with her more than once, but from the look in his eyes she could tell he actually had something for her.

After passing through several ominous hallways they stopped at a gigantic pair of onyx doors that shimmered in the pale light of the moon, or whatever was left of it so far due to the ongoing eclipse. Pitch took no time to admire the doors and pushed through them revealing a room that was covered in the roots of trees that grew in the forest above the hidden lair. In the center of the room a demented pedestal of withered and dead tree roots held up a gigantic black crystal the size of a football. Without warning Pitch opened a skylight that allowed them to view the nighttime sky and instantly her eyes were drawn to the moon as it faced directly above them as if it were staring that them from above. Gothel looked to Pitch for an explanation but he put a finger to his mouth, signaling her to stay silent and she obeyed. Pitch took a deep breath and looked up at the moon as it was covered in shadow completely and said, "I have brought her."

Instantly the crystal lit up with a radiating white light signaling the life inside the ancient gemstone. Gothel jumped back in surprise but Pitch was unfazed and walked up to it and placed his hand on it and lowered his head and said, "Yes, she is right here before the crystal."

With that the white light began to flash and Pitch stepped away in amazement as the crystal projected and image above itself. In the light it shined a black figure in a cloak appeared and was the size of a tire but Gothel could not see who it was because the figures hood was up and it had its back to them. But slowly it spun around and removed its hood to reveal a younger looking Gothel and the actual women look to Pitch for an explanation. Smiling in his crooked, chilling way he walked towards her and placed an arm around her shoulders and said:

"How would you like to be a Guardian?"


	2. Chapter 2

Several months later in the modern day and age:

Jack watched the skyline of New York City from the Empire State Building as the sun began to set signaling end of the autumn months. With this Jack leapt from the balcony and soared above the building, riding on the Northern winds that were at his command. Carrying with the cold gusts of wind were the large gray clouds that carried millions of snowflakes waiting to be released upon the city. Looking up to the skies he commanded the winds to carry him to the clouds, as he reached them he flipped upside down and ran across the bottom of the clouds dragging his staff through them and releasing the snowflakes from them. Once he finished this he rode the winds down to the streets and store fronts to continue his work. Gliding in the middle of the street with his arms outstretched he directed waves of frost to cover the windows and lights of the cars and buildings. "Mommy! Daddy! Look its Jack Frost!"

Jack turned to the source of the voice and saw a little girl holding the hand of her mother and father trying to get them to turn and see him. The girl's parents stopped their conversation and looked down at their daughter then to the spot where Jack stood but they could not see him, instead all they saw was the first few snowflakes as they began to land on the pavement. "You're right honey. It looks like winter is about to begin. I know, how about when we get home we'll have some hot chocolate?" her father said.

"Yes please!" exclaimed the girl. With that the family began to walk down the street to their car but the little girl looked over her shoulder never breaking eye contact with Jack. Jack glided over to her and the little girl's eye lit up with wonder and amazement at the being before her, but Jack just smiled down at her as he soared over their heads and waved goodbye.

After several hours of soaring and gliding through the streets of New York Jack had finished covering the city with the first signs of winter. Watching from the balcony of Empire State Building once again, he gazed out over the city but looked up to see moon half covered in shadows but still he smiled up at The Man in the Moon. Behind him a large portal opened up behind him that nearly knocked him from the balcony from the sudden disturbance of the formerly peaceful night. "Would you mind tellin' me why I have to be the one to drag him back?"

"I am going with you, so stop complaining."

Out of the portal came two of Jack's friends, The Easter Bunny and The Tooth Fairy. "Well what can I do for you two on such a fine evening," Jack asked.

"Jack," Toothiana said, "we need you to come with us back to North's workshop. There may be a problem."

"Alright let's go," Jack said, stepping down from the balcony and walking towards the portal.

"One last thing," the Easter Bunny said. Jack turned around to see him hop forward and reach for something in his traveling bag. A moment later the Easter Bunny presented Jack with a small, gold necklace with a pendant the size of a quarter but with some strange symbol that Jack didn't recognize. "I was told by one of our allies that I was to give you this."

Jack took the necklace and inspected the pendant, "Umm, alright but what is it for and since when do we have allies? Is it another Guardian?"

Toothiana hovered over on her wings and said, "We'll be able to answer both of those questions and anymore that you might have but for now we have to go, the others are waiting for us."

Without any delay the three Guardians rushed through the portal resembling the Northern Lights and found themselves in the middle of North's toy factory. All of the Yeti's were busy at work building and decorating the toys that would be delivered to the boys and girls in a few short months while the elves rushed around causing small messes as they rushed about the factory. "Ah! There they are," exclaimed a thunderous voice, "hurry up here so we can get started."

Jack turned to see North looking down at them from another level of the factory with a wide grin hidden amongst his snow white beard. Beside him stood Sandman trying to keep himself awake as usual but still pleased to see his friends none the less. After the formalities and greetings ended North led them all into a room next to his own private workshop where he tinkered away at new ideas for toys. Inside the room he led them through was a large circular table that had an opening in the middle, the room itself was covered with pictures of them all throughout history as well as other mementos and personal photographs but one wall was made up of glass to overlook the factory, ceremony circle and the large globe in the center of the building. Inside the room at one of the windows stood an old withered man with a ragged cloak over his head and a holding tightly to a staff in one of his hands, but before Jack could even question who the mysterious man was or his intention North exclaimed in a booming voice, "Fellow Guardians, we are brought together on this day to discuss a threat that may be looming on the horizon."

"And with only a month or so from Christmas, now you know how I felt when we were called back before Easter," Bunny said with a grin across his face. The other Guardians couldn't help but laugh at this but it was cut short by the man the ragged cloak.

"SILENCE," he exclaimed and the entire room went silent, Jack was the most nervous of all because he did not know anything about any sort of looming threat and because of the outburst by the old man.

"We're sorry old friend please what do you have for us," North asked

The old man made his way over to the table but took his staff and flipped it so that it rested on his shoulder revealing the blade of a scythe with a beautifully articulate pattern across the blade and parts of the wood. Lifting his hood revealed the face of an old man with a long white beard the rivaled North's and a look in his eyes that knew he wouldn't last much longer in this world. Jack was still at a loss for what was going on and said, "Can someone tell me who this guy is because that scythe is not helping."

The old man looked to Jack with his tired eyes that seemed to look into Jack's very soul and he simply smiled at him with friendly, calming look in his eyes replacing the deep, sorrowful eyes a second before. Reaching out with his other hand to shake Jack's the old man said, "At last we meet Jack Frost, and it is a pleasure. I am Father Time or Tempus, whichever you prefer."

Jack took the old man's hand and shook it noticing a gold bracelet with a chain attached to it holding a large hourglass to it. "Um, it's nice to meet you too, Tempus."

Without saying another word Tempus leaped over the table to stand in the center and looked to the Guardians and began, "My friends I fear that the flow of time has been disrupted by a force that I cannot see. Several hourglasses that have had their sands run out have gone in reverse and have somehow stopped, each at a different point of the person's life."

Everyone including Jack, who understood the basics of Tempus and the hourglasses from modern day interpretations, was shocked by the news and looked to one another for an answer to the situation but before they could ask Tempus continued his report, "The worse part of it all is that each of the hourglasses so far have been from the Dark Archives."

This caused even more concern to appear on the Guardians, except for Jack who asked, "What are the Dark Archives?"

With a kind smile, Tempus turned to Jack and replied by saying, "The Dark Archives are the halls of my temple that house hourglasses of those who spread destruction, sadness, and chaos are. The one thing is that the hourglasses of those that are far more evil are stored further back thus creating the Dark Archives."

Before Jack could ask anything else about Tempus's temple, North stood from his seat and leaned towards Tempus with a concern yet angry look in his eyes and asked, "Whose were they?"

The friendly smile on Tempus's face disappeared and with a serious tone he said, "Only three so far, but I fear there may be more-"

"Whose," North stated again.

With a sigh Tempus said, "Gothel of Corona, Mor'du of the Lost Kingdom, and the madman Drago Bludvist."


	3. Chapter 3

Jack nearly fell back out of his chair as the other members of the Guardians yelled out a simultaneous, "WHAT?!"

Bunny and Toothiana looked at each other with shocked expressions while bickering about what it could mean and Sandy began to make images with his sand, faster than Jack could interoperate. North pounded his fist into the desk causing the wood to start to split beneath his mighty fist which silenced the other Guardians. "Friends, please let Tempus finish his report."

With that all the attention in the room went back to Tempus to learn if anything else had happened that they should know about. But to Jack's surprise instead of the old, withered man that he had met a few minutes before was replaced by a young child. The child couldn't have been more than ten years old yet there he stood with the safe scythe and hourglass bracelet that Tempus wore, as well as an oversized cloak. "Whoa," Jack exclaimed. "What happened to Tempus?!"

The young boy simply turned to Jack with a kind expression and said, "As the flow of time continues, my young friend so does my eternal life but it flows forward just like any mortal creature. I start as a young boy later on I transform into an adult then I turn into the frail old man that you just saw."

Jack nodded with a cheesy, fake grin acting as if he understood what young Tempus had just told him and turned towards the other Guardians pleading with his eyes for a better explanation. "Oh for crying out loud Jack! He ages continuously, is it that hard to understand," Bunny asked with a frustrated scowl.

"Hey be nice to him, he's still learning about all of this. I mean he still doesn't even know about our allies, history or even the other potentials of the prophecy," Toothiana piped in. But once she finished her sentence her expression quickly turned bashful and looked towards North with a blushed, timid face. "Oops," she said.

North simply slapped his forehead with the palm of his hand and rose from his seat to go to the pedestal where a large book, similar to the Guardian book laid unopened and sealed with a large buckle. Jack simply looked back and forth between the faces of his friends just as confused as ever, waiting for some form of an explanation to what was going on but all he saw were grim, terrified faces. Bunny leaned back in his chair with a deep scowl while crossing his arms across his chest while Toothiana was nervously biting her nails and looking around as if trying to find the best window to break through to fly away. Meanwhile Sandy was fast asleep again and had started to hover over his chair again; obviously they weren't going to provide any answers so Jack turned to Tempus and North who had sat back down in his seat with the large silver book in front of him.

Growing frustrated Jack exclaimed, "Can someone clue me in to what is going on here?!"

Young Tempus chuckled and put a calming hand on Jack's shoulder and said, "How about a history lesson?"

Jack turned to the young child with a confused stare but somehow felt by relieved by seeing a young face that he could relate to and he said with a smirk, "Yeah, that's exactly what I'd want to do with my immortality, be lectured."

The young spirit of time smiled and nodded his head towards North who had opened the book and was smiling at whatever was on the pages. He looked up at Jack with the jolly look in his eye and began, "My young friend, we are the Guardians who are tasked with protecting the light that children provide in the world. We are chosen by The Man in the Moon as you know but what you don't know is why there are so many other spirits yet only us five Guardians."

Jack simply leaned back and thought about the statement. In his three hundred years of being a spirit he had met plenty of other spirits, most of the time not in the best of circumstances but still he had met plenty yet what North said was true. There were only four, now five, Guardians out of the dozens of spirits that he had met in his lifespan but his train of thought was cut off as North continued, "Let me show you something."

With that he waved his hand over the images on the pages and they shimmered to life as if they were from the Northern Lights. The four images were of each of the Guardians: North in his favorite coat and black fur hat with a sack of toys over his shoulder, Toothiana gliding through the air with a tooth in one hand and shiny quarter in another, Sandy standing on top of a large cloud of sand directing the flow of dream sand as if he were a symphony conductor, but the last image of Bunny hopping with a large basket full of brightly colored eggs made Jack chuckle. "Watch it mate," Bunny said.

North smiled and continued his speech, "Each of us represent an aspect of childhood or a trait that make children bright or perhaps a better way to say this is that all of us provide something for children that allow them to express themselves in a positive form and we also allow them to grow into wonderful people."

"You do realize you explained all of this to me earlier with that whole 'What is your center?' shtick you know," Jack interjected with a smirk.

North smiled and simply nodded, "Yes, our centers. These are what we give to the world and help it to prosper in some form or another but the other spirits throughout the world that you have met give something that doesn't serve children alone, they give something to the world that can be used in a variety of different ways that prevent them from becoming Guardians." Finishing this statement he waved his large hand over the pages and the images transformed into shimmering pictures of Cupid and the Leprechaun. "For example, luck and love aren't things that a child would consider yet a teenager and anyone older would think about these things. The same goes for you and your center which is fun."

Jack looked back to North with a confused look and he said, "What I'm trying to tell you is that while you are a Guardian who has sworn to protect the light of the children, your ability to provide fun to the world can be used for so much more and it is the goal of Pitch and this team he is assembling to get rid of you as well as the others that pose a major threat to them." Before Jack could ask if these others were the same people as the other potentials that Tooth had mentioned earlier North continued in his thick accent, "You and Pitch are equals in strength while you may not be the exact opposite of each other like Pitch and Sandy, you do threaten each other's centers which is why it is natural for you to fight him. But just like you and he are opposites, there are three others that provide wide spreading centers and threaten the powers of Pitch and his team."

"What are you saying?" Bunny asked.

North turned to him with a small grin and said, "The legend of the Dark Guardians must be true."

"I was hoping you wouldn't say that."

"What are we going to do," Toothiana said in a panicked voice.

"Excuse me, I'm still a little out of the loop here," Jack said leaning on his staff.

Toothiana fluttered over to him and said, "That book contains legends or prophecies that have guided us through the ages as well as keep track of the potential Guardians as well as regular spirits, whether they be good or bad and-"

"There is an old legend saying that you'll have to fight the Dark Guardians because you are a part of the legend," Bunny interpreted.

"Bunny," Tooth exclaimed, "I wanted to be the one to tell him that part! I swear you never give me the chance to talk in these meetings."

"I'll make it up to you by flossing again, okay? Can we call it square?"

"YOU STOPPED?!"

"Enough you two, we'll have our oral checkups after we finish with the business at hand but for now Jack needs to know the prophecy if he is to be prepared for the fight that is ahead of him." Tempus turned to North in the form of a twenty year old man and said, "Show him."


	4. Chapter 4

North simply nodded and unclipped the buckled that sealed the ancient book and turned to a page marked by a large silver ribbon. Bunny returned to his seat at the table from closing the curtains and North waved his hand over the page and began to recite the prophecy as shimmering images danced around the room illustrating the text.

During the time of light and peace darkness shall run rampant.

Those of light shall be destroyed and the world will then be dimmed.

The ones of the darkest hearts shall take their place and the Dark Ages will resume.

Only by the light of four is there a chance to fight.

Guided by the roots of her shall the four be revealed and blessed with her righteous seal can they out shine the night.

Find the four throughout the year and show them to her throne.

With the righteous brand and blinding light can the darkness be withdrawn.

With that North closed the book and Bunny opened the curtains to let the light in but no one said a word. All eyes were on Jack as they waited for a reply. He looked up to North and asked, "Did you know it would be me?"

North nodded and said, "Yes. During the part of the prophecy that says to 'find the four throughout the year,' we originally took that in a literal sense and searched for you and the others. But after a while it seemed impossible so we stopped looking and focused on what could be done to fix the problems at hand. At least until we met Mother Nature."

Bunny spoke this time before Jack could ask North anything else, "Look at the medallion on the necklace."

Jack didn't question and took the necklace out of his pocket and set it on the table. Bunny picked it up and examined it in his paws and said, "Many years ago she came to us badly wounded but she wouldn't tell us by who or how. Now that I think back on it she barely said anything at all to us, she just wandered in here when we were having a meeting and gave each of us a necklace. She said these are for the four of nature. We each took one and gave them to the spirit we knew to be of the chosen four."

"How did you know I would be one of them," Jack asked still confused about how everyone knew he was involved.

Bunny tossed the necklace back to him and said, "Look at the symbols around the edges."

He caught it and stared closely at the images etched into the gold medallion. In the center of the medallion was an image of the world with four distinct symbols: a sun, a flower, a leaf, and a snowflake. Jack looked up from the necklace and said, "Oh."

"Exactly," Bunny said. "Are we took another look at the prophecy and the necklaces MN gave us we managed to figure it out."

"So what am I supposed to do?"

This time Toothiana answered with a wide smile and cheerful gaze. "Well you were the last one we needed to find and now here you are. We each delivered a necklace to the other three and now that we know you are a part of the prophecy now we can call them all together and-"

"Well…maybe not all of us," North said as he looked away twiddling with his thumbs.

"North," Toothiana said. She spoke as if she were a mother rebuking her child for something they had done wrong and fell over to him with her arms folded and a stern look in her eyes. "North, what did you do?"

Sinking lower into his chair his mouth became hidden under his beard and said, "I may have not given Autumn his necklace yet."

Bunny rose from his seat and exclaimed, "Why didn't you give it to him?! We need all four of them to know!"

"Well when was I supposed to do it? It's three days from Christmas and I still have preparations to make."

Letting out an aggravated sigh Bunny sat down and said, "Well go, just do it now. You helped with Easter so I might as well return the favor."

"I'll help as well," Toothiana said. "Besides I have a few fairies that are free and might be willing to help."

"As will I," Tempus said back in his old man form. Even Sandy floated over and gave a salute to show he was ready to work.

North smiled and said, "Thank you friends, but what about the other two?"

Bunny rose from his seat and said, "I can go to both of them and bring them here to help since we were going to get them to come here anyway to unite the team."

North pondered this and said after a short pause, "Alright I'll be back soon."

But before everyone could leave to go and begin working on the preparations needed for North's annual delivery run Jack said, "Why don't I take it to Autumn and North can stay to help-"

"NO!" They all exclaimed. Jack looked around taken aback to the outburst that his small suggestion had caused. Everyone's eyes were wide with shock and fear as if Jack had grown a second head but had red fiery hair instead of his usual bleached white hair. North walked towards Jack and put a hand on his shoulder and tried to speak but no words would come out. He rubbed his neck and looked to the others for some help but nobody said a word. Jack stood there with North's hand on his shoulder waiting and said, "Well if nobody can give me a reason not to I might as well go visit Autumn."

"Jack don't," North's grip had tightened on his shoulder and the look in his eyes became deadly serious. He let out a sigh and continued, "Autumn isn't really one for visitors, especially when its people that he doesn't know." 

Jack released himself from North's grip and said, "Well why not? If I'm supposed to team up with him and two other people I should go and meet him."

Nobody could fight with that simple fact and Jack knew it. Folded his arms across his chest with a confident smirk across his face and North let out a sigh and rubbed his eyes trying to find something to argue with. But after a pause he motioned for the others to leave and to get ready for Christmas. "North are you sure about this," Toothiana asked.

"He'll have to meet him sooner or later so it might as well be sooner."

Without saying another word Bunny summoned a hole and jumped down to go and gather the other two from the prophecy. Tooth and the others left the small room and went to go start the remaining preparations but the chilling tension never left the room but it didn't stay long as North clapped his hands and his normal jolly demeanor returned. He turned to Jack and said, "Alright Jack it's time for you to see where, or who, you borrow the wind from."

With that North simply turned to the door and started walking and Jack followed with a small grin. "Wait. What do you mean by 'borrow,'" Jack asked as he chased after North to catch up with him.


	5. Chapter 5

After the reindeer were put into position and the sleigh was placed ready for takeoff, North boarded his sleigh wearing his coat, fur hat, his two swords placed in his belt and a deadly stare in his eyes. Jack followed cautiously behind him and took his seat in the sleigh wondering about what kind of person Autumn could be. What could be so bad about him? Out of all encounters with other spirits the only bad one was Pitch but based off of everyone's reaction to his suggestion earlier, you would think that between Pitch and his nightmare steeds or Autumn, they'd risk fighting Pitch in a heartbeat. But Jack was still left wondering why everyone feared a guy named Autumn instead of the man who is the king of nightmares and fear itself. What could he have done or do that makes everyone think he is the most dangerous being on the planet?

In fact it wasn't even the mystery of Autumn that's bothering him. It was the fact that he was a part of a prophecy that cast him with three people whom he had never met. Yet they were somehow going to defeat Pitch and his new team with the help of Mother Nature. Being told all of this in less than an hour tends to be overwhelming to a person but Jack was brought out of his train of thought as North called out to his team and they took off into the sky.

Once they were in the sky North spoke in a dry tone and said, "The Guardian of Trust."

"What," Jack said confused about the sudden statement.

"That is Autumn's center."

Jack sat there perplexed by North's random statement but before he could ask anything else North threw one of his enchanted snow globes and it exploded into a swirling portal of dazzling lights. As they flew through the portal and out the exit Jack leapt to the side of the sleight to look at his surroundings but what he saw was not what he expected. Over the course of his 300 years Jack had traveled to almost every part of the world and had visited various spirits in their homes…most of the times the visit consisted of apologies and attempts to escape consequences but that was beside the point. In every home that was inhabited by a powerful spirit their home reflected what they give or represent in the world, but as a spirit that represents 'trust' this was the last kind of place that Jack would think to look for the spirit.

Along the miles upon miles of thrashing waves and hounding winds was a deserted yet peaceful island filled with luscious forests and snowcapped mountains. North brought the sleigh closer and the peaceful serenity of the island slowly faded away as the outlines of a village came into view. Or the better way to describe it would be what had once been a village. Jack leaped up to perch himself on the edge of the sleigh to get a better view of ruins beneath them. Everywhere he looked all that could see was the charred remains of homes and stores littered across the ground. Large boulders and the rubble of statues were scattered and lodged into the earth among the various rusted swords and shields that were laid delicately against them. Jack jumped off of the sleigh and glided down and landed in the middle of the vast village and walked towards one of the massive boulders that was surrounded by weaponry and knelt before one of the shields to better examine it laying his staff beside him. He extended his arm and was about to touch the shield but was stopped by the strong grip of St. Nick who pulled Jack away from the massive stone. "What do you think you are doing?!"

"What? What did I do?"

"If you took some time to look closer at what's around then you might be able to figure it out," North said. With that he released Jack's arm and went back to the stone to retrieve Jack's staff. As he knelt down to grab the staff North looked up towards the stone and cleared away some of the moss that encased the stone and let out a heavy sigh. Under the green moss were dozens upon dozens of engraving in a language that Jack couldn't understand but North stood there for a moment before turning back to Jack and bowed to the rock.

"What happened here," Jack asked.

"War," North said in a dry, defeated tone. He then turned back and walked towards Jack handed him his staff and patted him on his shoulder. "Come along we have to go and get Autumn."

North passed by him and began to ascend a large stairwell that had large chunks of rock missing and was stained with the blood of those that met their end during the war. Jack pulled up his hood to hide his grim expression and followed North up the stairs with his staff over his shoulders. Once Jack was beside North at the top of the stairs they pushed open the two massive rotting doors and entered a dimly lit room. "Stay close beside me and don't touch anything."

Jack simply nodded and followed close beside him as they found a torch and lit it. North led the way through what might have once been a great hall of some sorts, towards another smaller door in the back of the vast room. As Jack followed he noticed the broken tables and benches across the floor and decorations and tattered paintings on the walls. All across the vast room there were more stains of war and weapons of fallen warriors scattered and shattered everywhere. Swords, axes and arrows were lodged into the massive pillars supporting the crumbling stone ceiling that had moss growing and hanging from the ceiling from the openings in the ceiling. Towards the back of the room before the small door was a long table elevated above the rest of the floor by a rotting wooden stage. In front of the long wooden table was a rusted statue of a dragon that had fallen and smashed into the wood and caused it to break and splinter. Behind the long rotting table were large tapestries that were worn away by time and damaged from the war that occurred and the images displayed were far beyond distinguishable. North reached the door beneath one of the tapestries and unlocked it with a key he had taken out of his coat pocket and said, "This is the part I always hate the most."

"Why's that," Jack asked following behind North.

"Have a look." North said as he stepped aside for Jack to look into the dark room. Once inside with North holding the torch up to illuminate the room Jack understood and let out a sigh. With the room illuminated Jack realized that the room wasn't even a room but a large passageway with a long stone carved stairway leading upwards and with no end in sight. "These stairs are always causing me pain in my knees."

"Are you sure that there isn't some other way up? Like an escalator or better yet why can't we use one of your snow globes?" Jack asked looking up at the endless flight of stairs.

"Oh sure we could. If we do that though then we will have to take the full flight back to the Pole."

"About how long are we talking," Jack said as they began going up the stairs, "because we just started going up these and I'm already bored and tired. Actually, why did you only bring two snow globes?!"

"Just about six or seven hours because of the weather and I knew this would be a quick trip so we wouldn't need more than that," North said as he passed by a stunned Jack.

Jack watched as North passed by him with a kind smile and a small laugh. Shaking it off Jack let out a sigh and put a smile back on and began to leap from step to step easily passing by North. "See you at the top old man!"

About an hour later North was sitting on a rock at the top of the stairway followed by Jack heaving heavily from attempting to run up the long steep passage. Once he reached the top of the stairs Jack collapsed to the ground on his back from exhaustion. North stood above him and pulled a canteen of water from his coat and offered it to Jack who eagerly accepted it and began choking down large sips of water to help him regain his energy. When he finished drinking all of the water he looked back to return it to North but he was nowhere to be seen. Quickly Jack leapt to his feet, kicking his staff up to catch and began walking to try and find where North had gone. Surrounding the cave that the stairs ended in, were tall trees that appeared to stab at the dark ominous clouds as if the island was trying to show that there was still life on the barren deserted island. The ground was covered in luscious grass and various other bushes and plants, but in the middle of it all was one dirt path. Jack decided to follow the path through the woods and came to a clearing with North standing in the middle of it with his arms folded across his chest. "There you are." Jack said as he approached North and handed him his canteen.

North turned around at the sound of Jack's voice and with a small smile took the canteen and placed it back into the pocket of his jacket and asked, "Are you ready to move forward? We are practically at Autumn's home."

"How much further is it?" Jack asked as the two began to walk again.

"From here we keep moving forward and once we pass the sign it should only be a few minutes until we reach his house." North replied as he looked to Jack with his usual kind and welcoming gaze.

"A sign?" Jack asked, "Why is there a sign posted all the way out here?"

"You do not need to worry about it. Just keep walking and we will be there soon enough and with if things go well then we should be out of here and back to the Pole in no time."

Following shortly after the small conversation, the duo arrived at a large oak tree that was larger than all the others in the forest. On its bark was a wooded sign that was surprisingly well maintained in comparison to the rest of the sights of the island, on it was a simple brown leaf and nothing more. "Here we are! Now from here we just go down this hill and we will have arrived." North proclaimed with a pat on Jack's back and with that he led the duo down a beaten dirt path that appeared too had not been used in some time. At the end of the path was the home of Autumn but it was nothing that Jack had been expecting. Then again he didn't know what to expect since no one would tell him anything about what Autumn was like but based off of island at first glance made Jack think that he was some sort of terrifying demonic spirit that had somehow become a Guardian but from seeing his actual house Jack didn't know what to think anymore.

Before him was something more than a simple cottage in the woods, it was a mansion of amazing proportions. Made from stone and wood the building was three stories tall and was decorated with small carvings around the frames of the windows and door that curled and twisted along the borders of the frame. The only strange thing about the house, aside from the fact that it looked so out of place, was that it felt like it was deserted and barren just like the village yet there was a column of smoke rising from the chimney. "So how do we get his attention or get inside?" Jack asked, "I'm guessing since he's the Guardian of trust that we have to go through some sort of test to prove we can be trusted, so what is it? Retrieve something off of one of the points of the island? Be interrogated? Prick our fingers so he can analyze our blood or something like that?"

"Mmmmm, something like that." North said as he walked past Jack and stopped at the door and reached up and touched the top of the frame. After a few seconds he brought his arm down with a small key in his hand and unlocked the front door. Turning back to Jack with a smile he motioned for him to enter first and said, "With that we've completed the test."

"Are you kidding me?!" Jack said with a wide eyed expression.

"Nope that's all there is to it. After you." North said with a laugh at Jack's reaction and with that the two entered the home of the fall spirit.


End file.
